TEHRAN -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Monday that cooperation with China protects “international stability”, as he congratulated Xi Jinping for securing a third term as the country’s leader.
Iran and China have strong economic relations especially in the fields of oil and energy, transit, agriculture, trade and investment.
Raisi and Xi met for the first time last month during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan where the Iranian president called for expansion of ties.
“Cooperation within the framework of multilateral institutions and organizations, in addition to securing the interests of both countries, helps to protect international stability and peace,” Raisi said, according to a presidency statement.
China’s ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee elected Xi as its general secretary for another five-year period on Sunday, cementing the 69-year-old’s position as the most powerful leader since the party’s founder Mao Zedong.
Both countries signed in 2021 a 25-year “strategic cooperation pact” said to include “political, strategic and economic” components.
Raisi said the partnership provides a “model of all-round expansion of relations based on interests and mutual respect”.
Separately, President Raisi said effective cooperation with regional organizations is a priority for the country’s foreign policy.
“Effective cooperation with regional organizations is a priority for our foreign policy and the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to share its remarkable capabilities with the member states of the Indian Ocean Rim Association,” he told Secretary General of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Salman Al Farisi here.
Noting that Iran has cooperated with the littoral countries of the Indian Ocean in the past, Raisi called on the association to become more active by taking advantage of the past experiences, especially in three major areas of water economy, women’s empowerment, and expansion of scientific and technological cooperation.
The president also stressed the importance of drawing up more plans to reinforce convergence among the association’s members and make the most of their potentialities.
Al Farisi hailed Iran for chairing the IORA’s working group on Women’s Empowerment, saying that the Islamic Republic has also taken effective measures and provided remarkable services to improve the association’s approach to Academic, Science and Technology Cooperation.

The Indian Ocean Rim Association is an inter-governmental organization which was established in 1997.
As the third largest ocean woven together by trade routes, commands control of major sea-lanes carrying half of the world’s container ships, one third of the world’s bulk cargo traffic and two thirds of the world’s oil shipments, the Indian Ocean remains an important lifeline to international trade and transport.
Home to nearly 2.7 billion people, IORA member states vary considerably in terms of their areas, populations and levels of economic development. Despite such diversity and differences, these countries are bound together by the Indian Ocean.